The Bet
by TigreMalabarista
Summary: Even with all the crazy scenarios Bill has been through with Ralph, this one even he's not sure he can handle.


Even with all the crazy scenarios Bill has been through with Ralph, this one even he's not sure he can handle. Thanks to Jo and Lauren for beta'ing.

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"C'mon Counselor, you won the bet."

"Maybe, but you agreed to the double or nothing bet. If you renege, I win the double."

Bill shook his head slightly at the Pam's comments as they stood outside the Hinkley home. She was right, he had already pretty much failed every bit of the bet, from getting caught calling her Counselor to eating dog biscuits when he said he could abstain from both. This one double or nothing idea, however, he wasn't looking forward to.

Taking a deep breath, Bill opened the door and entered. Ralph was in the living room, grading papers. He looked up at Bill and smiled. "Bill, how are you doing," said Ralph, looking at his watch. "Damn, I'm running late. Let me finish grading this paper and I'll get the suit on for that training session..."

Seeing Bill turn away, Ralph looked at Pam, confused. "Normally I'm not the one who wants to go train. Something wrong?" he asked.

Bill coughed, and answered instead. "Uh kid, I've got to tell you something, and I don't think you'll like it."

Ralph stood up and looked at Bill blankly for a moment, wondering what the agent was up to. "OK... what is it?" he asked.

Bill looked at Ralph, fighting every emotion attacking him. How would his friend react to this ... how would he react? He had done many things with Ralph, but this wasn't one of them. The thought of how Ralph would react especially made him a little worried... suit or no.

When Bill didn't respond, Ralph got slightly annoyed. "Bill, do I have to take a ticket and sit down? Come on, what is it?" he said. Pam watched from a slight distance, just to see how far Bill'd go to win the bet.

Sighing, Bill just decided to go for it and leaned toward Ralph, grabbing him. Before the younger man could respond, Bill kissed Ralph firmly on the lips. It was a chaste kiss, but still, those few seconds seemed like an eternity for the two men.

After the kiss ended, Bill looked at Ralph, wondering how the younger man would react. Ralph stood there in shock, trying to figure out why Bill would ever want to _kiss _him. Before he could say anything, however, Ralph's mind decided it was too much of a shock and he passed out.

Bill caught the man and lowered him to the ground. "Oh no..." said Pam, realizing that the bet might've gone a little too far. On instinct, she went to get a wet washcloth and a glass of water for Ralph.

The agent, however, shook Ralph's shoulder, trying to bring him around. "Ralph come on, I'm sorry. Wake up..." said Bill. He smiled when Ralph stirred and opened his eyes. "Kid, you with me?" he asked.

"Yeah, think so," said Ralph then paused as the events rushed back to him. He grabbed Bill's lapels and slugged him. For once in his life, Bill was glad that Ralph _wasn't _wearing the suit. "BILL, why the hell did you just kiss me?" said the blond-haired man, still shocked.

The agent grimaced from the punch to the jaw, feeling he deserved it, but still didn't really want to tell the other about the bet. When he saw the look in Ralph's eyes that read 'Tell me or I'll knock you out and fly you to Siberia,' Bill relented. "OK, the Counselor and I made a bet."

"A _bet_? This should be fun to hear about," said Ralph a little sarcastically as he stayed lying on the ground. He wanted to know what this scenario was all about. "So, tell me about this bet that ends up being sealed with a kiss."

"We set this up a few days ago. She was gettin' upset with me always ruinin' your dates and such and wanted a day with ya all to herself. I said I couldn't waste the time, so she set up the bet, and it was to not call her Counselor and not eat dog biscuits for a day. Failed both of those. So I said 'well double or nothing,' a weekend in this case, and the Counselor said..."

"You had to kiss me?" said Ralph, and Bill nodded sheepishly. "Well, looks like you win."

"Maybe..."

Pam returned with a wet washcloth and glass of water, handing both to Ralph. "Here you go hun. I'm sorry that all this happened," she said, embarrassed. "I didn't think Bill'd actually go through with it, and even if he did, I didn't expect you to pass out."

"I'll be all right, honey, I didn't know either. But you have to admit, he won the bet. He did it and you got nothing," said Ralph as he slowly sat up and placed the washcloth on his neck. "So, Bill, what does Pam have to do as her payment?"

"Nothing. She won," said Bill, making both Pam and Ralph blink in surprise.

"OK, what's the catch?" said Pam, cocking an eyebrow. "You won the double or nothing bet when you kissed Ralph."

"No, you won fair and square. Ralph fainting made the bet no good. I'm not gonna to go through that again, and I _know _he doesn't want to do an encore either," said Bill. "He's been through enough of my scenarios, this is one that the both of ya can win."

Pam and Ralph looked at each other and shrugged. "All right, Bill. So you'll let Ralph and me have a weekend all to ourselves with no simple suit scenarios? Only the ones that are _literally _life and death?" said Pam, still skeptical.

"Yeah, Counselor, I agreed to it and I'm a man of my word. Now, I've gotta get outta here, so you two do whatever it was you were goin' ta do and I'll see ya later."

After Bill left, Ralph glanced at Pam, still slightly confused. "Well, that was different, in more ways than one," said Ralph simply.

"Yeah, he did win the bet, as your reaction wasn't a part of it rules. He just had to kiss you. Why did he say that I won?"

"Probably because he didn't want to embarrass us anymore," said Ralph, chuckling and giving her a kiss. "Guess we owe him dinner after the weekend, just to thank him for his generosity."

"OK, it's a deal. After all, fair's fair," said Pam.

"Sure is. Pam, just one more thing?"

"Yes Ralph?"

"If you do decide to have another bet with Bill, don't have him kiss me."

"Deal."


End file.
